Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore the changing relationship between work and our personal lives. Every week, I share something I’ve written, a few things I’ve enjoyed reading, and something great to listen to. If you find it interesting, please share it!
The Writing:
Some people are crystal clear about their 'purpose', but, let's be honest, most of us aren't.
Finding meaning in our work/lives is important. Not only does it correlate with happiness, it positively impacts motivation, productivity and, ultimately, performance. So, what's stopping us from prioritising 'finding our purpose'?
The truth is, we're overcomplicating it.
Forget about a worthy ideal and focus on what you find interesting:
We get so bogged down with the significance of 'discovering our purpose' that it puts us off from even starting. Don't overthink it. Concentrate on things that you enjoy and make you feel good.
Here are two ideas to get you started.
1: Track your daily highlights
You'll already be doing things that you enjoy, but can you remember them?
Every evening, I note down a couple of daily highlights. When you've been doing this a while, you start noticing patterns. It could be that you love writing, jamming with people over a campaign idea, or analysing data.
Whatever it is, do more of it.
2: Notice how you spend your time
What do you for pure enjoyment?
It might seem outlandish to incorporate a personal interest into your work, but you try slowly introducing your. Perhaps your love of history will bring a different perspective to a client problem. If you can't get enough of podcasts, could you use them to create a new way of sharing knowledge within your team?
The future of work is becoming more personalised, so bring your unique point-of-view to the party.
What next?
Finding your purpose might seem like a luxury you can't afford, but it depends how you look at it. We don't all need to save the world. Most of us just want to do a job that makes us happy.
Go back to basics. Do more of the things you find interesting. Ask yourself...
What gives you meaning every day?
The Reading:
I had to share these stats that former podcast guest, Bruce Daisley, posted on LinkedIn the other day.
- offices account for 40% of societal energy use
- every unused desk creates a tonne of unnecessary CO2 each year (equiv of driving a car 6000 miles)
Given bills continue to rise and we’re collectively making efforts in so many areas of life to cut back on energy usage, it seems crazy that an avoidable situation like this is allowed to continue. Dan Sodergren also added another interesting insight:
“Plus if those with remote-compatible jobs work at home for just half of the year, it could result in saving 54 million tonnes of greenhouse gas – equivalent to taking 10 million cars off the road. Source: https://www.finder.com/uk/working-from-home-statistics”
As Dan Bladen at Kadence confirmed after I asked him on the thread, we now have technology that monitors occupancy rates for desk booking purposes, which could feasibly be used to mitigate energy wastage. Surely it’s time we put existing tech to use to help us switch some lights and sockets in offices when they’re bloody empty!
London Business School professor and author of “Redesigning Work: How to Transform Your Organisation and Make Hybrid Work for Everyone” is one of the world’s leading thinkers on the workplace revolution we’re experiencing. She also happens to be an upcoming guest on the new series of the Future Work/Life podcast, which launched this week.
In this piece for MIT Sloan Management Review, she explains why so many businesses and leaders are struggling with how to evolve their approach to redesigning work, and introduces what we can do about it.
“Three messages came through loud and clear. The first is that in this time of sensemaking, individuals right now are looking inward — working through the impact of their changing habits, networks, and skills, and beginning to imagine other life trajectories and possible selves.
The second message is that leaders and the organizations they manage are looking outward more than usual — analyzing how talent markets are changing and what their competitors are doing. This is creating momentum and a force for change, but also frustration and anxiety, given institutional lag. Leaders are worried about inertia holding their companies back.
The third message is that as this momentum for change is growing, it is those individuals and organizations that are acting now that will pave the way and become role models for everyone else.”
As she suggests, most of us are looking at the creative approach of individual ‘social pioneers’ and ‘first-mover organizations’ to take the lead. Based on the many conversations that Lynda and I have had with organisations of all shapes and sizes over the past few months, my advice would be don’t wait too long to find out what others are doing because they’ll leave you behind.
Attracting and keeping the best talent requires taking a consistently creative and open-minded approach to where, when, and how your people work, so be transparent about how you’re thinking about the future and involve them in the conversation.
Jumping forward from now into the future, I’m fascinated by the opportunities blockchain and Web3 may offer to how we think about work. Harvard Business Review is often a little behind on these types of technology stories, but this is a useful summary of the potential of DAOs to “change how we work.”
As author Steve Glaveski explains:
“As DAOs proliferate, instead of having one employer and a 40-hour workweek, we might contribute several hours a week to several DAOs. This is already typical amongst early adopters to the space. Today’s creator economy, populated by vloggers, bloggers, and podcasters, can give us a glimpse into what the Web3 working world might look like, with the typical creator earning income from a variety of projects such as coaching, consulting, and content monetization on various platforms such as YouTube, SubStack, and Patreon.”
I spend time in my book exploring how these existing trends allow people more freedom and flexibility in their work/lives. DAOs certainly seem to offer another route to monetise your unique interests and expertise, but it’s still early days and based on my own experience, this world can be confusing and time-consuming to navigate. There’s a reason people call it a ‘rabbit-hole’!
As Glaveski correctly concludes:
”The DAO movement is still in its infancy, and has a number of its own challenges to work out when it comes to governance and trust. The mainstream adoption of Web3 rests upon the resolution of questions related to user experience (UX), security, scalability, and regulatory clarity. However, at the current pace of talent acquisition, capital-raising, and innovation in the space, mainstream proliferation could happen sooner rather than later.
At its core, Web3 promises more fulfilling and outcomes-focused work, with a fairer distribution of ownership and rewards — and that is a future worth building.”
The Listening:
Combine Stanford neuroscientist with Farnam Street’s Shane Parrish and you've got the recipe for something GREAT.
Andrew Huberman packs an insane amount of insight into 100 minutes of conversation on this episode of The Knowledge Project, in which he shares how small changes add up to an outsized positive impact on your health.
I’d definitely recommend listening, but in case you don’t have 100 minutes to spare, here’s a thread I shared on Twitter and the TL;DR:
• Jump & grip
• Get out early
• Delay caffeine
• Carbs for dinner
• Rest deliberately
• Breath deep, sigh
• Dim lights at night
• Start w/ cold shower
• End day w/ warm bath
• Wide view to reduce stress